Photo shoot...

Some time in March, the school's website designer came into my classroom to do a random photo shoot with a few students from grade 1.  He came in during first period unexpectedly and said he'd do the photo shoot in our classroom after recess and told me that I should put on more makeup... haha.  I said I didn't have any makeup at school... sorry!  This isn't Vogue and I wasn't given any notice.

Turns out, one of the photos ended up on the school website...

Hahaha!

Workin' for the weekend

Lately work has been busy... had a PD day last week... trying to plan class lists for next year... finished up a 6-week TLCP... started the final cycle of "clubs" for the year (I run a games club for grade 1s on Tuesdays and Thursdays for one hour after school)... finished up all our Earth Day activities... and am trying to cram in all kinds of curriculum that I didn't cover yet.

It's time for another vacay!  The good news is... we have one coming up this week!  I often get asked by friends back home "Why do you get so much vacation?  Do you do any work?" ... welllllll the great thing about teaching here is that vacation is spread out nicely throughout the school year.  In Canada you get 2 weeks for Christmas, 1 week for March break, some long weekends, and the rest is basically July and August.  Here, we have it spread out that we get a shorter summer holiday but more vacation throughout the actual school year.  I like it better that way because it gives everyone a nice break!

Aside from the long weekend last March when we went to Singapore, the last vacation we had was in January for Tet (2 weeks in the Philippines)!  Now we have one week off starting this weekend, and 7 of us are going to Thailand and Laos.

This Saturday, we're flying in to Bangkok, then connecting on a flight to Chiang Rai.  I've never been to Chiang Rai before, but I'm slowly hitting up all of Thailand one place at a time.  I'm sure it'll be great since we'll get to eat Thai food for a few days there!  After spending time in CR, we'll head to the border of Thailand/Laos just like John and I did a few years ago on our Southeast Asia trip.  We're going to do the Gibbon Experience again (ziplining among the treehouses in the jungle) and then head down through Laos (same places we went to before).  I'm excited to go on this trip with a group of friends.  It's going to be fun times!!!

Shampoos

Totally normal conversation among friends in Vietnam:
"Hey what do you want to do tonight?"
"I don't know... maybe have dinner and a shampoo?"
"Yeah, I could totally go for a shampoo right now."
"Let's do it!"

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What are we talking about?  Is "shampoo" a code word for something else?  NO!  A shampoo is a shampoo.  In Vietnam, you can go to a hair salon for a shampoo where someone will wash your hair and give you a head massage, arm/hand/shoulder massage, and facial massage complete with cucumber peels on the face.  It lasts for around one hour and costs like $2.50, but we usually leave a tip so it's $3.  Where else can you get this kind of service for this price?  It's relaxing and your hair and face will be left smelling fresh and clean.  If you want them to use the "expensive shampoo" (L'Oreal or Wella) it costs more for the experience... $4.

Gotta love Vietnamese prices!

Earth Day!

I made an Earth Day music video with our class ... check it out here!

Julia and Andy get married, again!

Last weekend we went with a group of teachers to Chau Doc for our friends Julia and Andy’s Vietnamese wedding.  They were married last year in Canada, but since Andy’s family is from Vietnam, they wanted to have a Vietnamese wedding also. 

Lucky for us, Andy’s uncle arranged a bus to take us on the 6 hour bus ride to Chau Doc, at no cost to us.  He also paid for our accommodations in a nice, clean hotel that was right next door to the wedding hall/restaurant that he owns!  At the restaurant there were tons of HUGE catfish swimming in the water nearby which Andy’s uncle gives them baguettes to eat.  We were treated to delicious breakfast each morning at the restaurant.  The Vietnamese breakfast I ate on the first day was chicken pho soup and iced coffee.  On the second day we ate rice and pork chops!

It was funny going back to this city since John and I had been to Chau Doc once before as a stop on the “slow boat to Cambodia” from HCMC.  I never imagined that I would ever be back in Chau Doc.  There is not a lot going on in the town, but the Mekong River is always interesting.  On the morning of the wedding, we did a tour again by boat to see the floating markets, floating village, fish farm, and Cham minority village.

The wedding was held in the afternoon at Andy’s uncle’s wedding hall.  First there was a procession of cars around the town to pick up the bride and groom.  Then, we made our way back to the hall where some photos were taken before a snack was served (crackers and beer!) …

Andy and Julia looked awesome!  I took a ton of photos, but I really liked the way the red colour accent mode turned out since Julia was wearing a beautiful red Vietnamese dress.

This wedding was more traditional than the other Vietnamese wedding I attended months ago.  It involved some interesting ceremonial traditions.  I really liked the tea ceremony, where the couple gives tea to married guests, who in turn give them some money as a wedding gift. 

Dinner was a variety of seafood and meat, and more beer.  Mixed drinks don’t seem to exist at weddings here… if you want to drink something, the choices are water, Pepsi, or beer!  There were a few singing performances for entertainment, but Vietnamese people don’t seem to be into dancing at weddings.

The wedding hall cleared out by around 8pm (Vietnamese weddings end early)!  Our group was the last one there, but since the music stopped and food service ended, we didn’t stay much longer.  We had a lot of fun and it was great to see our friends get married (again)!  I'm really happy that we got to be a part of this special day.

Happy birthday to me!

I've gotten a bit used to spending my birthdays in random places other than home.  This is the first birthday I spent in Vietnam, and it was a great one.
At school, I got some gifts from students... a necklace, chocolate, Hello Kitty mug, makeup, body cream, and cards.  It was a nice surprise!  I also got a nice gift from my co-teacher which included a cute hat!

After work, we went to my favourite restaurant in the neighbourhood ("Scott and Binh's") with friends and ordered my favourite meal there (enchiladas).  It was delicious, as usual.  We also ate some cheesecake there that John ordered from the NYDC (New York Dessert Cafe).  Yum!!

Hope this year is full of health and happiness!  :)

Typhoon hits Saigon!

2 weekends ago, a typhoon hit Saigon.  Fortunately we were in Singapore and avoided the crazy weather.  Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the typhoon!  Apparently the wind/rain was pretty strong.

On the way back from the airport, we noticed that a number of trees had been uprooted and some signs from restaurants had blown down onto the sidewalks.  At school, my outdoor bulletin board was half gone.  Half of the kids' art has blown away...

Here is some evidence of the typhoon around the neighbourhood:

I've got a fever... from Saigon Heat!

Last night was wild!  We attended our first Saigon Heat basketball game with a huge group of co-workers, watching the Heat take on the Indonesia Warriors.  The team plays in the Air Asia ASEAN basketball league, and is in the middle of a playoff race.  Tickets cost only $5!

Anyway, the game was super close until the very end, when the Indonesia Warriors started to break away a bit.  The Heat was down by 8 points with just over half a minute left to go.  People had given up and some fans left before the game ended since it seemed like a loss for sure.

By some unbelievable lucky events, the Heat came back to win with 1 second left!  The other team missed something like 6 free throws in the final minute, and the Heat got lucky with 3-pointers.  A player for the Heat missed his 2 free throws but another player was able to tip in the last one for the win in the final second.  The crowd was going insane.  It was the craziest sporting event I've ever seen.  Fans were screaming and high fiving anyone and everyone.  I don't know if I'll ever see another comeback like that again, but it was awesome!

Here's the news article about the game:  http://www.aseanbasketballleague.com/news/detail/6951/game-59-heat-makes-late-comeback-to-stun-warriors

After the game, we went down on the court to take some pics.  It was a really fun evening and now we're all excited to go to another Saigon Heat game.

Defense, Saigon Heat!  Defense, Saigon Heat!

Singapore weekend!

This weekend it was a holiday in Vietnam, so we got a lovely 4 days to spend in Singapore!  The flight from HCMC to Singapore was about 1 hour and 40 minutes.  John, Greg, Alex, and I ended up staying at a hostel in Little India called the Inn Crowd which cost $20 a night, per person (expensive by South Asian standards, but not for Singapore standards).  We ended up staying in a 17-bed dorm which wasn't nearly as bad as it sounds.  It was actually pretty quiet and the other guests were not loud and annoying like ones we've met at other hostels, plus we got free breakfast (eggs, toast, coffee/tea).

Day 1 in Singapore was spent wandering around the Marina Bay area, where most of the big skyscrapers are.  At the time, they were having some kind of light festival so there were cool displays lit up around the bay.  Next to the famous Marina Bay Sands Hotel (which looks like some kind of spaceship/airplane on top of 3 towers) there is a huge structure that looks like a lotus.  There was a video projected onto the lotus at night... it was pretty impressive!  Even though we couldn't afford to stay at the Marina Bay Sands, we had fun exploring the "shoppes" next to the hotel.  The fancy mall had a surprisingly affordable food court which was awesome!

The Lotus, and Singapore skyline

On Day 2, we woke up to rain.  We had planned to go to Universal Studios on Sentosa Island.  Luckily, the rain stopped fairly early and we were able to enjoy a fun day there, with hardly any wait time for rides (5 minutes)!  John and I went to Universal Studios Singapore on our last visit to Singapore (2 years ago) but there weren't as many rides, and the wait times were about an hour!  This time we had much better luck.

After spending the whole day at Universal Studios, we spent a long time waiting to watch the "crane dance" at the waterfront of Sentosa Island.  This was actually 2 cranes (think construction work) which were supposed to be "cranes" (birds) dancing.  I realize that this description probably makes no sense, so here's a photo...

The Crane Dance

It was very creative and I really enjoyed it!

Day 3 in Singapore brought us back to Sentosa Island to visit the Wave House, where you could practise surfing on these man-made wave machines.  John, Alex, and Greg did surfing and I hung out at the pool next to the man-made beach.  Things in Singapore are nice and clean but very planned out (including the green space in the city)... it's kind of like being in a country that is Disney World.

John at the Wave House on Sentosa Island

After Wave House, we checked out the "Luge" on Sentosa.  You go up a chair lift to the top of a big hill and ride a sled (complete with steering/brakes) down the course.  It was fun but not exactly thrilling!  We rounded out the afternoon with McDonalds since we can't get it in Vietnam... cheeseburgers and sundaes = awesome!

In the evening, we headed back to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel to catch the musical "Wicked" playing at the Grand Theatre there.  I've wanted to see this for a long time, so I'm glad that we finally got the chance to go.  It was great!  We saw our co-workers Tiffany and John there, and decided to have some "Ozmopolitans" at the lounge in the hotel after the show.  They were green... just like the 'wicked' witch!  :)

I was on a quest to try a "Singapore Sling" so after leaving Marina Bay, we headed to Clarke Quay.  It cost a whopping 18 Singapore Dollars, but everything in Singapore is expensive so I figured "why not?"  It was very sweet but I liked it!

On Day 4, we didn't really do anything because we had to leave in the morning to head back to Vietnam.  However, there was still time for one last McDonalds run right before going through security.  Unfortunately I couldn't get that cheeseburger I wanted since it was before lunch time, so I had to settle for an egg McMuffin.

To sum things up... Singapore is clean, modern, fun, and expensive.  I had a really nice time there, and am glad that I got to see more of it (the last time I was there, I was sick for 2 days).  It was great to have a nice little break from hectic HCMC.

Can't wait until the next vacation... one week in Laos, starting at the end of the month!